What is an Industrial Award?

A primary function of unions in Australia since the 1950's
has been to secure a state or federal award that lays down
the pay and conditions for workers in a particular job.

An Award is an document that provides the details of
conditions of employment that an employer is obliged to
provide for an employee, as agreed between Union(s) and
employers, and which can be enforced under the Industrial
Relations Act 1996 (Commonwealth).

These awards have become very complex and detailed. Some,
such as the old Metals and Engineering Award, had over 300
classifications, each with different rates of pay and conditions
of work.

On page 2 is an extract from the Professional, Administrative,
Computing, Clerical and Technical Award (the PACCT award).

This award was finalised in 1988 and it covers administrative
staff such secretaries, office managers and accountants. The
extract provided here (clause 8) covers overtime, and it illustrates
the complexity and law-like nature of awards. Many people
complain that they're impossible for ordinary workers to read:
judge for yourself.

Awards are registered with the various federal and state
Industrial Relations Commissions and employers are required
to keep accurate records of employee's pay, days worked, deductions,
sick leave entitlements and so on. State Departments of Labour
police these requirements under the law, and penalties are
applied for those in breach of it.

Both the federal and state governments play a role in industrial
relations matters such as industrial awards. This is a legacy
of the problems that had to be worked through between the
states at the time of federation, and it creates astonishingly
difficult legal problems. For example, industrial disputes
may be put before either a federal or state tribunal. That
is, there is a choice of jurisdiction.

In Australia about 90 per cent of workers are covered by
awards. Of these, about 60 per cent are covered by federal
awards and 40 per cent by state awards. Most workers in New
South Wales and Queensland are covered by state awards, but
federal awards apply more widely in the other states and territories.
In Victoria, of course, the government has recently abolished
state awards. Employers are now required to operate under
contracts of employment. These generally retain the award
pay and conditions, but vary penalty rates, starting and finishing
times, holidays and so forth. Many unions are afraid of a
fall in the standards under contracts, and are attempting
to switch to federal awards.

Generally, Awards can be downloaded from the Internet at
by visiting WageNet.

8.1All Authorities
time worked in excess of or outside of the ordinary
hours of duty prescribed by Clause 6 shall be paid
for in accordance with this clause.

8.2Where the
ordinary hours of duty are fixed, each day’s work
shall stand alone in computing overtime, and overtime
rates shall apply to all time worked in excess of
or outside of the fixed hours.

8.3Where daily
ordinary hours of duty are flexible, the total hours
worked in a work cycle as defined in clause 6 shall
be computed and overtime rates shall apply to all
time worked in excess of the ordinary hours of duty
prescribed for the work cycle.

8.4Any period
of overtime which is continuous with ordinary duty
and which extends beyond midnight shall be deemed
to have been performed on the day the overtime commenced.

8.5Where overtime
is not continuous with ordinary duty and involves
duty before and after midnight, the overtime shall
be deemed to have been worked on the day for which
the higher rate is payable.

8.6Overtime
shall be calculated to the nearest quarter of an hour
of the total amount of overtime worked in a work cycle.

8.7An employee
is receipt of a salary in excess of the prescribed
for the top sub-division of Administrative Officer
Grade 8 shall not be eligible to receive payment for
overtime but shall be allowed time off equivalent
to the period of overtime worked.

8.8An employee’s
salary for the purposes of computation of overtime
shall not include shift work allowances or the casual
loading prescribed by Clause 4.4.3 but shall include
higher duties allowance and any other allowance in
the nature of salary.

8.9Payment of
overtime calculated for any period in accordance with
the provisions of this clause shall not be subject
to any limitation in amount within a wok cycle as
defined in clause 5, but the rate payable shall not
exceed the overtime rate which would be payable to
the top sub-division of Administrative Officer Grade
6.